From start to finish, until the last-gasp Colin Kaepernick pass fell incomplete in the end zone preserving a 34-31 Baltimore Ravens victory, this was a game played at full roar. It was at least as loud at Beyoncé's halftime show. And had more fireworks.

You couldn't really say no one wanted it to end, because surely neither side could have taken much more. At the end both fan crowds were limp from exhaustion. Or beer.

"You know," said Andy Asnicar from the Bay Area. "It's still a great accomplishment just to get here. There were 30 teams who were playing golf this week."

It was a rollicking, back and forth game that had it all: lead changes, crazy falling over touchdown passes, and the longest kickoff return in Super Bowl history.

Then things got interesting.

A little more than two minutes into the third quarter, the lights went out in the Big Easy. With the 49ers down 28-6, it seemed like anybody's guess how the 34-minute delay would affect them.

Ominous signs

Frankly, it didn't look good. Cultural icon Kaepernick had thrown an ugly interception, and running back LaMichael James had fumbled. Nothing went right. During the power failure, the cluster of 49er fans in the upper deck tried to start a wave. It fell incomplete.

But you know how these games go by now. The 49ers give up an early, ugly lead and then come storming back with the series of coincidences and good breaks that make you think they visited one of the voodoo stores in the French Quarter. I wouldn't rule it out.

Dennis Francis, decked out in 49ers gear, is a Super Bowl veteran. He says he never bought the idea that the mostly corporate crowd sits on their hands.

"What I have found is that as you look around you find that people find one of the teams to root on," he said.

Not this time. Momentum switched sides so often the Harbaugh parents Jack and Jackie, who vowed to root for both teams and every play must have needed oxygen.

You have to believe that the players who soldiered through this one will be telling their children about it for years to come. It was the game that defied the laws of physics and matter – it crammed too much excitement and zaniness than seems scientifically possible.